


sometimes it's too late... sometimes things can't be fixed

by imadetheline



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano Friendship, Gen, Platonic Relationships, ahsoka and rex need hugs, not ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28355259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imadetheline/pseuds/imadetheline
Summary: She tries for a smile in the darkness, knows it doesn’t work. Rex’s hand floats to her shoulder, a steadying presence even as he tries for the same smile, failing just as much. Her head tilts forward minutely, and Rex meets her halfway without words, their foreheads bumping and resting against each other.She’s not sure how long they stand there, swathed in darkness and the deep sadness they can’t seem to escape. The wind tugs at her cloak, but neither of them moves, letting the cold seep into their bones, joining the numbness that’s been there for months.Or: Ahsoka and Rex are the only things each other have after Order 66 destroys their lives.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	sometimes it's too late... sometimes things can't be fixed

**Author's Note:**

> just a short thing written for an anonymous prompt on tumblr:
> 
> "Could we have a fic with Rex and ahsoka right after order 66? Just trying to survive the now daily norm"
> 
> I'm not sure it quite fits but this is where it went and i had to write it. hope you like it!

She floats through the town, grey cloak flapping silently in the wind, not quite a ghost but enough like one that no one takes notice of her. It’s better that way. Whispers of the emperor’s new enforcer, dark and evil, have reached even her and Rex in the Outer Rim. It never hurts to be careful. The absence of her sabers at her waist lends her a previously unheard of caution as she stalks through the town under the growing darkness. Still, she’d have traded her sabers for any manner of things, the most important being her master’s presence at her side, his comforting hand on her shoulder, his wisdom floating across their bond.

Her steps almost falter; only her training, the training he gave her, keeps her moving forward. Her heart seems to split again every time she thinks of him, of Obi-wan, of Padme. They’re a constant gaping wound in the Force around her. She keeps it tightly leashed around her, locked away, knows what being Force-sensitive will get her in this new galaxy. But still, she hasn’t been able to stitch the wound, stitch herself back together. It’s been months.

Sand whips around her feet, and she pulls her cloak closer. Anakin would have hated it here. She almost smiles at the thought before it decidedly turns into a frown.

Rex spots the expression immediately when she reaches the outskirts, where he waits at the bottom of the ship she’d acquired for herself. His ship, the one they’d been traveling in together, sits next to it.

She tries for a smile in the darkness, knows it doesn’t work. Rex’s hand floats to her shoulder, a steadying presence even as he tries for the same smile, failing just as much. Her head tilts forward minutely, and Rex meets her halfway without words, their foreheads bumping and resting against each other.

She’s not sure how long they stand there, swathed in darkness and the deep sadness they can’t seem to escape. The wind tugs at her cloak, but neither of them moves, letting the cold seep into their bones, joining the numbness that’s been there for months.

The numbness, the ever-widening grief swirls around them in the Force in a mockery of the ballets Padme had taken her to see. Another spike of grief stabs through her at that. It pulls at her. Ahsoka knows she’d collapse under its weight if she ever for one moment allowed herself to acknowledge it, to reach for the hurricane, to reach for the gaping emptiness where her master once was. The tears that slide down her cheeks are silent. 

She knows Rex cannot sense the storm inside her, around both of them, but he feels its weight all the same. Something whispers to her that this is not the last time she will see him, but she knows in her heart it will be too long. The Ahsoka she is now will never see this Rex again. If- no, when they see each other again, they will be changed. But they’ve put it off as long as they can, the separation, and it’s a safety measure neither of them can afford to lose; her, a former Jedi, and him, an unchipped clone.

It doesn’t stop them from holding each other, here, beyond the end of all things. For it had been the end, and yet they are still here… when so many are not. Ahsoka’s inclined to think it’s more a curse than a blessing as she holds her last friend close, the only link to her life before.

The wind whips around them once more, as if reluctantly pushing at them, as if reminding them they cannot stay here; any safety is an illusion. She pulls back and sees tears that match her own on Rex’s cheek. He meets her gaze without hesitation, and her grief is reflected back at her. She sucks in a breath, the cold air freezing her lungs, and she grabs Rex’s hand, squeezing tightly. Words feel insufficient. He understands. He always does. Somehow, he always will.

Her hand falls from his, and she boards her new ship without looking back. Ahsoka Tano enters that ship but, systems away, someone else exits it: older and hardened, the joy and naivete of wild youth a thing of the past that only means death in this new life.

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys liked it leave a comment. They make my day! Seriously I love reading them so please leave me one cause they motivate me to write more! if you guys have ideas for other stories send me an ask on tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/imadetheline) or just yell about stuff with me. Info about me and all my other tumblrs are [here](https://infoabtmaddie.carrd.co/#)


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